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CNC
GRT has two CNC (Computer Numeric Control) mills, one of which, Fluffly, is in the corner near the cat closet, and the other of which, Kermit, is by the welding room. We use the CNC mills to not only to speed up milling tasks, but also to cut irregularly shaped parts, and extremely precise parts for gearboxes. There are three main steps in turning a nebulous idea into a tangible part. First, cad the part using Inventor, and make sure that it is machinable. That means, no corners sharper than 1/8 inch, mounting holes reasonably spaced for easy machining, cheeseholes if necessary, and tight tolerances marked. Next, export the part as an x_b file, and open it up with Mastercam. Use Mastercam to mark out the toolpaths of the cnc, making sure to do finishing passes where tighter tolerances/better finishes are needed. Finally, select a good piece of stock, cut it to the right size, and then mount it to Fluffy to begin the last part of the process: the machining. For a comprehensive tutorial on how to use the CNC and cam software, ask a veteran who knows what they're doing (currently this is Anton, Aron, Daniel, and Alex Janik). Fluffy Fluffy is a 40,000 dollar mill that we bought a few years ago. She is a 3 axis CNC with mist coolant, and runs windows 95. Her maximum rpm is 4000, and her maximum speed is 200 inches per minute. Along with Fluffy comes the CNC work station, which includes a very nice set of drill bits, tapping bits, endmills, and a variety of other tools necessary for a CNC operator to do his/her job. An extremely important, but often overlooked part of CNC is keeping Fluffy's workstation clean. Not only does a clean workstation fill the operator with a warm, fuzzy feeling, but also lets him/her find things quickly, know if something is missing or not, and keep track of things so that they don't get lost. Additionally, a clean work environment is a safe work environment, because when the workplace is a mess, Fluffy could get jammed, or the operator could trip, or Seth might get mad. Also, Sebby could get disappointed at you, which would be heartwrenchingly terrible, so it is most certainly a necessity to keep the Fluffy workplace clean, and to put back tools borrowed from the station. Kermit Little is known about the strange Kermit who sits in the corner by the welding room. Some theorize that it may be operational by the next build season, but which next build season? For generations this question has been avoided, but what we do know, is that a few brave souls are working on bringing this green cnc to life (Frozenfar and Aitan and Trevor and others). Legend has it that tool changing is automatic on this mystical machine, and that it was this very tool changing mechanism that failed, and caused it to be inoperational. At any rate, we are all hoping that the 2014 build season we can have this guy up and running!